Using an Old Cistern for Rainwater Catchment

Greetings! I live in an old house with the main well next to the house; I've recently found a cistern that is in a perfect position to capture the water off of much of the roof. The cistern is right next to the well, I was wondering if anyone had any idea why it would be in this position, but the really important question is: what would be an effective way to use this cistern for pumping water for the nearby garden. I can figure out how to get the water in, but I need help getting the water out. Any ideas?

Attached is a diagram of the area.

Wilson Newman : I have seen old houses with a summer porch off of the Kitchen This was often where meals on hot days were prepared so as not to heat up the house!

Also Washing Clothes there would bring the finished heavy with rinse water that much closer to the clothesline. Late in the Fall thru to spring the wife would retreat back

into the house for cooking and washing- and the porch would be an alternate place for drying laundry !

THe water in the cistern would be soft water and preferred for washing and laundry, Running out of soft water made more work for the Domestic Goddess

I included a link to an earlier Thread see below :


https://permies.com/t/26825/earth-bag/earthbag-indoor-pool-water-storage

If the well and the cistern were that close they probably were connected to allow well water to be pumped to the cistern- our housewife would not want to run out of water

on wash day- hard water or not !

An answer to your specific question needs more information or pictures You can see however if you have enough slope to use siphoning !

This will reload your question to the top of the posts hopefully someone else can add more info Best Big AL

Here's a better idea of what I have, the water for the house is pumped from where the hand pump is sitting. That little hole near the porch is where the cistern is, it's not very wide but seems very deep.

- Take a long stick 15' or so wrap a rag on the bottom and wire or staple it on ! Then find out how deep it is and just how many inches of 'organic matter' you have in your cistern.

Now that I understand what you have I'll think on it ! Big AL !

First of all how big is that cistern? If it is big enough then you could simply buy a cheap pump and irrigate hyour garden with it. They cost around $200 and saves you a lot of bucketing. Yes maybe the cistern must be cleaned out, and the gutters should have leaf eaters or similar. If the cistern is huge you could plaumb it into the house but the pump is much more expensive.

I'll figure out how deep it is. I wouldn't want it plumbed into the house, the well is sufficient for now, but having a place to store rainwater for the garden would be ideal. I'll reply back soon.

The hole looks too small for a sump or efluent pump to fit done in it, mores the pity.
My concern is there should be an automaticway to redirect the water when the cistern fills up, other wise it will affect your caller or foundation.
A small pump could irrigate slowly, allowing for better water adsorption and it might fit down the hole as well.